Better Things in Life
by Angel42184
Summary: This is a BIG Matrix/AndrAIa story. If you don't like them, please don't read. This is set in Game-hopping times when Matrix and AndrAIa arrive in a system for a few surprises.


Better Things in Life  
  
Hey everyone. I'm back again. This is ReBootAngel, but I decided to get a new name AND a new story. This is a Matrix/AndrAIa fic, so anyone that doesn't like them, PLEASE do not read this story. If you don't like them and you read it and then flame me, I WILL remove your review. Thanks for your time. Just for future reference, Roxio and .com are not names created by me, but they are my characters, so please don't use them (or my story for that matter) without my permission. Any questions? Email me at: angel42184@excite.com and I'll be happy to get back to you as soon as I can.  
  
"Matrix, you know it's not supposed to do that." AndrAIa said from her crouching position as she leaned back against a large boulder behind her, closing her eyes.  
  
"I know that AndrAIa." He told her as he leaned against the same boulder, holding Gun close to him, ready to shoot.  
  
Frisket, Matrix and AndrAIa's current protector, was sound asleep, with his head on Matrix's foot. Matrix and AndrAIa watched the Game flicker for what seemed to be the thousandth time since they had entered it.  
  
They had been in this same game for the past day and since they were on the last level waiting on the User, it might be a long time before they ever saw any trace of it.  
  
Matrix looked around at the jungle like surroundings and then at his friend sitting on the floor. They had not had a stopping point for many days now and he knew that she was tired. She had worked even when he had slept, though she denied it. Maybe after this they would have a chance to rest.  
  
"So, why do you suppose it's doing this?" AndrAIa said, breaking the silence as the Game flickered once more.  
  
"It did this once in Mainframe, but I wasn't in the Game, so I don't really remember." Matrix stated, looking back towards the level opening.  
  
As Matrix despairingly decided to sit down, he looked up to see a shadow on the rock. Knowing it must be the User, he became alert again and sat up. AndrAIa, sensing his alertness, began to listen very intently for any kind of sudden movement. Just as everything had gotten quiet, she turned around swiftly to see Matrix taking aim. GAME OVER  
  
"User doesn't win." Matrix said mockingly after the Game had left. As he looked around, the system they were in reminded him somewhat of Mainframe, only this system seemed to oddly be in better shape.  
  
"This place looks well.great." AndrAIa said, looking around at the surroundings.  
  
"It's not Mainframe though. We'd better get some rest. It's almost dark." Matrix said, bitterly putting Gun away.  
  
With this, Matrix, AndrAIa, and Frisket walked through the system, looking for any sign of a place to stay. As the sunset became more definite and they began to become exhausted from walking, a small Inn appeared. "Looks like a homey little place, doesn't it?" AndrAIa commented.  
  
"It could be a doghouse and I'd be ready to sleep in it." Matrix told her with a sleepy voice.  
  
With this comment, Frisket growled lightly at his master, but then looked back at the place when Matrix scratched him behind the ears.  
  
Matrix and AndrAIa walked in to see a binome standing behind the counter. She had fiery red hair, much like a sprite he knew, and a uniform on that had a navy blue dress and a burgundy vest with her nametag.  
  
"Welcome to system Gateway I'm Roxio, how may I help you?" the binome said in a rather monotone voice.  
  
"I'm Matrix. I need to rent a room for a few days. At least till the next game comes in. I'll be paying everyday. When we leave, we'll be in a hurry." He told her as he pointed to AndrAIa and Frisket who were sitting, almost asleep, on a chair behind him.  
  
As Roxio looked back to see the two sprites, she nodded and took the few units for that night that he handed her.  
  
Matrix took his change and turned around to face AndrAIa who was now asleep. 'I hate to do this.' He thought, but he had to. He went over and gently nudged AndrAIa's shoulder, only to watch her fall back into a deep sleep. Matrix decided it was no use and picked her up as she snuggled close to his chest, with Frisket following close behind.  
  
He found their room and entered, Frisket lying on the couch, and he laid AndrAIa on the bed, then after laying down and kissing her forehead lightly, she snuggled close to him once again and he looked at her, his heart almost exploded from the love he had for her. And with that final thought about her, he drifted off to sleep, thinking of her, and home. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Matrix awoke the next morning to look at his still sleeping girlfriend. They had both changed dramatically since they had left Mainframe. It was almost unreal that he was 2.0 and that she was the same age. They had been searching for so long. At times he though he was ready and willing to give up, but he had made a promise to his sister, and he couldn't let her, of all people, he could let his own sister down. Bob was also a major factor in this. He couldn't leave him in the Web to possibly die. Bob was his childhood hero. As Matrix kept staring at the sprite that had kept him sane, he didn't notice when her eyes fluttered open to focus on him.  
  
"Enzo?" she asked, unaware if he was awake or not.  
  
"Yes Andi?" he said, getting up out of bed, trying to not make it obvious that he had been staring at her.  
  
"Are you going to get something to eat?" she asked as she watched him heading towards the door.  
  
"Uh, sure." He remarked, still embarrassed as he walked out the door with Frisket following him close behind. "I might look around town for a while too."  
  
"Alright." AndrAIa yelled out the door as he shut it.  
  
Matrix looked around at the now busy hustle and bustle of the busy streets. It had only been a few short hours since they had arrived and it seemed like a completely different system. Frisket growled at another strange animal that was walking by and Matrix chuckled as he watched him start chasing it. He knew that he'd be fine so he kept walking, admiring the scenes when he reached what seemed to be the other side of the city and to a restaurant that looked much like Dot's. As he looked at the sign to make sure that he wasn't dreaming, it said, '.com's bytes to eat'. As he looked around, he decided to go in and to his surprise, it wasn't as busy as most of the stands out on the streets, but there were an assortment of sprites and binomes, so he took a seat at the bar.  
  
"How can I help you sir?" a binome asked him from the other side of the counter.  
  
"I was wondering where the Command.com of this system is. I need a word with them."  
  
"Did someone call for the Command.com?" an older man asked as he stepped out of the kitchen. He had light gray hair, dark purple skin, and gray eyes. "I'm .com, commander of the system and owner of this restaurant. What can I do for you?"  
  
"Well, I'd like to talk with you about your system. Does it-"  
  
"I'm sorry, but as you can see, this place is rather busy, so could I possibly meet you somewhere after we close?" he asked Matrix, interrupting him.  
  
"Uh sure, I guess. I'm staying at the Inn on the other side of the city." Matrix told him hurriedly as .com walked back into the kitchen.  
  
"I'll be there as soon as I can, though it will be a while after closing time." He told him as Matrix started to leave.  
  
"That's fine."  
  
Matrix walked out into the streets and started his long journey back, but instead, he saw AndrAIa buying clothing downloads for both of them some more comfortable clothes.  
  
"Hi Sparky, where have you been?" she asked as she quickly walked over to him.  
  
"Speaking with the Command.com of this system. He's coming to see us after he closes his restaurant."  
  
"That must be a great business for Command.com's." AndrAIa told him jokingly. "Oh, look at what I found." she told him as she turned around.  
  
Matrix watched her pick out things and try them on for the rest of the day. As the sunset started to become more beautiful and definite in the night sky, they bought a byte of ice cream and started walking back towards the Inn.  
  
"Isn't this system beautiful Matrix?" AndrAIa asked him as she ate her ice cream.  
  
"It's close to home. If I decided to stop game-hopping, this would be the place I'd want to stay." He told her as they stood at the door to their room.  
  
Matrix unlocked the door and let AndrAIa in before him, then Frisket who walked in and lazily jumped up on the bed and lay down. Matrix walked in, shutting the door behind him and locking it. He then sat down and started explaining to AndrAIa about .com.  
  
"Well, did you ask him about ports and about why the game was flickering like it was?" AndrAIa interrogated.  
  
"Well, I tried but it was a bit hard with him standing there trying to work, so I just told him that I needed to talk with him about the system." No sooner had Matrix gotten the words out of his mouth that there was a knock at the door. Matrix stood and opened the door to see .com standing there. "You wanted to talk to me about the system?"  
  
"That's right." Matrix told him.  
  
"Come in, sir." AndrAIa told him as she offered him a seat. Matrix shut the door and sat down on the couch that AndrAIa was currently occupying.  
  
"So, what is it that you want to know?" he asked as he got comfortable.  
  
"Well, do you have ports to the Net, do you know why your Games flicker when people play them?"  
  
"Okay, well each of those questions are good ones, but I'm afraid that we do have ports to the Net, but they aren't up and running. They haven't been working in years. As far as the Games go, I've never known that they do. I have heard of one case in a place called Mainframe, but never anywhere else. They filed it as an unknown reason." He explained.  
  
"Yes, we've been looking for Mainframe."  
  
"Ah, well, would you mind explaining about yourselves?" he asked Matrix.  
  
"Not at all. We started off in the system, Mainframe, my home and we've been traveling through Game Sprite mode trying to find either a system with ports to the net or else a system with ways to get back to Mainframe. We've not seen home in years, but that still hasn't given us reason to stop looking." Matrix told him.  
  
"Hmm, well, good luck in finding ports. Most systems have banned Net travel because of an infection that has set up in most guardians. It's too risky to go off into the Net now. The last time I was in the Net, when our ports worked, there was a large tear that was formed for no apparent reason. Someone said that there was a virus inside and that anyone that got too close could probably get it. I was the one that had to get close enough to mend it, but no signs of any type of virus so far."  
  
"Well, that's about it. I just was wondering about the status of this system, and thank you Sir for your time." Matrix said hurriedly, making even AndrAIa suspicious.  
  
"No problem. Well, I'd better be going. I need to get to sleep so I'll be functional for work tomorrow." He said with a sly smile as he shook Matrix's hand and walked towards the door to leave.  
  
As he walks out the door and AndrAIa is sure he's gone, she looks rather confused at Matrix.  
  
"What was that all about?" she asked him. "I thought that he was a good guy."  
  
"That was what I thought too, but Andi, no guy is going to come anywhere near a virus like that and escape without being infected. Plus, if this system is so high and mighty, then why are its ports to the Net not open?!" he said, getting louder.  
  
"You've got good points. But I don't remember anything like that ever happening while I was in Mainframe." AndrAIa said, pondering what little time she had spent in that place that she had grown to call home.  
  
"I do. It was before your time. The cause wasn't filed as an unknown reason. Megabyte had caused it by draining energy from the Game to try to get into the Net. That was what made me so suspicious." He said as he put all the pieces of the puzzle together.  
  
"Well that desk clerk up at the desk, Roxio, she sure seems to know a lot about this system. Maybe she could help."  
  
"Maybe she could." Matrix said as he picked up the VidWindow to call the front desk.  
  
"How may I help you?" Roxio's rang through the Window.  
  
"Could you please come down to room 117 after you get off? We need to speak with you." AndrAIa told her.  
  
"Of course I can honey. Be there at 0700." Roxio said as she turned the window off.  
  
Matrix and AndrAIa sat down to relax as time passed; it was time for Roxio to get off, and Matrix and AndrAIa were trying to piece things together.  
  
"What do you need kids?" Roxio asked as she walked in the door, scaring Matrix, AndrAIa, and even Frisket.  
  
"Uh, well." Matrix stammered.  
  
"We need to know about this system's Command.com." AndrAIa asked after telling Roxio what .com had told them about the ports and about the Game flickering.  
  
"Oh, that. Well, he's been really bad off lately. He locks himself in his home and never comes out. After his trip to the Net, it's like aside from his work, he's a complete shut-off from the entire city. He didn't' always act this way. He used to come out every afternoon and walk around the market, saying hello and giving all kids something on the streets."  
  
"His trip to the Net? Does anyone know what happened?" Matrix said, finally getting over the initial shock of her scaring him.  
  
"Well, I think that he got infected. Many do, but most are in denial because he's such a good man. If he were, he would be out of the office of Command.com." As she started another sentence, a menacing voice rang out in the system.  
  
WARNING: INCOMING GAME  
  
"What do we do about it Enzo?!" AndrAIa asked as she worriedly looked at Matrix.  
  
"I.I don't know!"  
  
WARNING: INCOMING GAME  
  
The voice rang out once again.  
  
"We can't.we have to stay here." Matrix said as the Game cube landed right over .com's restaurant. Matrix and AndrAIa both knew that this was going to be trouble.  
  
"Roxio, what can we do? He's draining the energy of the Game and if he succeeds in getting a build-up enough for energy to the Net, it'll crash the system!"  
  
"Those ports that he said was down, they truthfully aren't. They're up and running, all you have to do is get to them and shut off Game travel to the Net for out system. Only problem is, they're heavily guarded."  
  
"No problem there, right Matrix?"  
  
"None what-so-ever." He tells her as he takes Gun out.  
  
"You'll come with us won't you Roxio?" AndrAIa asked as she looked at the binome.  
  
"Of course I will. I wouldn't miss it. Plus, you're going to need my help." Roxio said, smiling. "Come on." Roxio told them as she led them out the door and across the city to the Principal Office where the ports were.  
  
As they hid outside the gates, Matrix started to count the number of guards outside.  
  
"You can take them." AndrAIa told him as she saw there weren't very many. "And I'll get what I can of them."  
  
"No no, what's the need of it when all we have to do is slip around back. We can avoid all chance of running into any guard that way." She said as she began running to the back of the building.  
  
"Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Matrix said as he, Frisket, and AndrAIa followed Roxio.  
  
"See, there they are." Roxio said as she pointed to the loading docks that had crew members working hard.  
  
Matrix, AndrAIa, and Frisket all got down to the bottom of the gate with Roxio close behind. As they neared the docks, Roxio began to observe all surroundings.  
  
"There's the switch!" she shouted as she looked up and saw a red switch on top of the P.O.  
  
"Just switch it off, right?" Matrix said as he began to climb the side of the building.  
  
"Get down from there young Matrix." She told him as he got down. "The energy build-up that will cause is enough to kill you. In fact, that's the reason I came. It WILL kill you. That's the reason he was trying to get to the Net so fast. He knew that you were smart enough to know about this."  
  
"But Roxio-there must be some other way." AndrAIa said as she looked at their friend.  
  
"I'm afraid there's not hon." Roxio said as she moved up the side of the building. "Good luck on your journey home." She said as she flipped the switch.  
  
AndrAIa looked sadly at Matrix and hugged him tight.  
  
"It's okay Andi. She did it out of love for a lot of sprites." He told her, trying to comfort her in the best way he knew how.  
  
AndrAIa looked up at Matrix with her beautiful aquamarine eyes and came closer to kiss him.  
  
"Matrix, I should've told you, but I love you. This situation really shows me how much I care about you." He hugged her tight and looked her in the eyes.  
  
"I love you too Andi."  
  
GAME OVER: USER WINS  
  
"For once, I'm actually glad to hear that." He said as he looked at the base of the Game to see that there was no .com. Matrix gratefully hugged the sprite that was with him and he knew that they loved each other, so now the games could be taken one step at a time, and since they had each other, it would be much easier. Hopefully they wouldn't see .com anywhere. 


End file.
